A blog about business in Fort Worth and North Texas, by the staff of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

09/30/2013

The Container Store to go public

The Container Store, the popular Coppell-based retailer that was bought out by a
private equity fund in 2007, on Monday made official long-standing speculation
that it intended to go public this year. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the 61-store chain
said it intended to use unspecified proceeds from the sale of shares to pay a
dividend to its owner. If its initial public offering is oversubscribed, it will
use the additional proceeds to repay part of the $361 million outstanding under
a secured loan.

Founders Kip Tindell and Garrett Boone founded the store in 1978 in Dallas. In 2007 Leonard
Green & Partners acquired the company for an undisclosed price.

According to Container Store’s SEC filing, it had $707 million in sales in
its 2013 fiscal year, which ended March 2. It lost $90.5 million that year,
breaking even on operations but accruing $90.4 million in preferred
dividends. For the six-month period ending Aug. 31, the company lost $688,000 on sales
of $343.4 million, its filing showed. It reported a hefty gross profit margin of
58.4 percent for that period. It reported long-term debt of $371 million as of
Aug. 31.